Dayton937

Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More

Bill Franz

Dayton at Work and Play: Kossuth Colony

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These houses in the Old North Dayton neighborhood were part of the Kossuth Colony. I learned about them in a great book by Andrew Walsh called “Lost Dayton Ohio.”

In 1905, the Barney and Smith Car Company needed to add laborers. They recruited immigrants from Hungary and then built 40 double houses for them to rent. They also built the Clubhouse, where the workers were required to shop for all of their food and clothing. The Clubhouse was also the post office and incoming packages were inspected to make sure they didn’t contain items that could have been bought at the Clubhouse.

The Kossuth Colony was surrounded by a 12 foot fence. This was so unusual that it attracted visitors. People took the streetcar to “see for themselves the strange fenced-in settlement of North Dayton.”

The colony was short-lived because of the 1913 flood. Sections of the fence were lost and the Barney and Smith Car Company needed to close for a period. Many of the Hungarian immigrants found work elsewhere.

If you want to take a look at this nationally recognized historic district, the Kossuth Colony was in the area bounded by Baltimore, Mack Avenue and Notre Dame Avenue. A long time resident told me that the area looks a lot better today than it did ten years ago. He said a more recent immigrant group, Turkish refugees from Russia, is moving in and fixing up many of the double houses.

Dayton At Work And Play: Larry Watts

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I caught up with Larry Watts as he was working in the garden at House of Bread (9 Orth Avenue) in Dayton’s Old Dayton View neighborhood. Larry is the founder of Seeds of Peace Dayton Ohio-New Page.
Seeds of Peace gives children, primarily those from the Five Oaks neighborhood, the type of experiences most children take for granted. Watts and a handful of volunteers drive kids to the swimming pool, a karate class, a fishing lake or an arts program.

“Today we’re all getting lunch at the House of Bread” he explained “and then we’ll work in the garden plots that we maintain here. Next time we’ll do something fun, just to balance things out.”

Watts started Seeds of Peace ten years ago. “2009 was a bad time in our neighborhood” he said. “There was a string of shootings on the West side and I felt guilty. I felt that I wasn’t doing what I could to make things better.”

Watts told me he’s taken kids on more than 1,000 outings over the last ten years. He relies on donations from churches and some individuals to cover gas and admission costs. If you’d like to help, email him at [email protected]

 

Dayton at Work and Play: Compost Dayton

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David Weickert was the farm manager at Mission of Mary Cooperative (619 Silver Lane) in Dayton’s Twin Towers neighborhood. They are an urban farming cooperative helping people on the city’s east side.

Now David has his own business, operating out of the same location. He runs Compost Dayton. He collects food scraps from people who pay a monthly fee and then composts those scraps. His customers can get the composted materials for their own use or donate the material to Mission of Mary or some other group.

“A lot of people don’t compost for one reason or other” he told me “but they want to be part of a sustainable food system. Those people are my customers. Over the last three years we’ve doubled our size each year.”

 

 

 

 


This service is a great way for you to reduce your waste and help the environment, along with helping out the local food and sustainable agriculture movement.

For more information contact David at [email protected]om

Artist of the Week: Brian Mathus

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Brian Mathus working in his studio in Dayton’s McCook Field neighborhood.

“I have been drawing as long as I can remember” Brian told me. “Then at age 16 I started to paint. I remember that one of my earliest painting projects caused some problems. I did a large painting on the wall of our family’s apartment and then had to raise $500 to return the wall to its original condition.”

“When I lived in Oregon I got some excellent art training. I eventually joined with several friends who were painters and we started our own gallery. It gradually grew to be successful. We even had some shows in Los Angeles and in China.”

“In 2008, when the economy tanked, our gallery went out of business. I went into the National Guard then and was posted several different places. I fell away from painting and didn’t think I would ever be an artist again”

“After my wife (also a painter) and I moved to Dayton we spent some time getting jobs and working on our home in Dayton’s Five Oaks neighborhood. Then one day we visited some studios at The Front Street Building Co. and it made us remember how much we had enjoyed painting. We rented a studio at Front Street and later moved to our current studio at 901 North Keowee. We are here painting most weekends, and we’re always open on First Fridays.”

The best place to follow Brian’s work is on Instagram at @mathusb.

ARTIST OF THE WEEK:  Walter Murch

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK Walter Murch next to a self portrait and a Winnie the Pooh soap bar at his exhibition at K12 Gallery and TEJAS (314 S. Jefferson).

For 36 years Murch was Director of Product Design at Hewitt Soap (333 Linden) in Dayton’s Historic Inner East neighborhood. That plant was the country’s largest manufacturer of specialty soap bars, and Murch designed over 2,000 different soaps. 

The exhibition includes examples of soap bars made for such diverse customers as Avon, Disney and the Sultan of Brunei. For each product Murch would do design sketches and then carve one bar by hand. His carving was used to make molds that made thousands of soap bars.

Murch has retired from soap carving but he is still a working artist, and some of his abstract paintings are part of his exhibition at K12. These paintings show some of the same skill and precision evident in the carvings. Interestingly, the soaps and the abstract paintings also share similar color palettes.

The exhibition continues through April 27. It’s well worth a visit to see the art and to learn a bit of Dayton history.

Dayton At Work and Play: Partial To Pie Bakery

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Partial to Pie Bakery in Dayton’s Shroyer Park neighborhood is a Dayton success story.

This is the third time I’ve photographed Marie Clark. The first time she and her father were painting the outside of this building. They had decided to open a bakery and found an abandoned building that needed some work

The second photo was taken a few months after they opened, as I was buying a pie. It was amazing. Others must have liked the pies as much as I do, because a few months ago USA Today said Partial to Pie Bakery was the “Best Pie Shop in Ohio.”

Now, even though she’s added more capacity, Marie’s bakery is often completely sold out by mid afternoon. I suggest you do what I do. Drop by the store early in the day and try a piece of one of their pies, quiches, and other sweet treats. Then order a whole pie to be picked up later in the week

Partial to Pie Bakery

Pies,Quiche and other Sweet Treats!

200 Shroyer Rd.
Dayton, Ohio   45419
(937) 813-8851
Tuesday- Friday 7am – 3pm
Saturday 7am – noon
Closed Sun & Mon

Artist of the Week: Josh Merritt

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK Josh Merritt of JLM Glass Studio. I asked Josh how he became a glass blower.

“I started out as an apprentice to one of Ohio’s great glass artists – John Michael Kahle. I lived close enough to walk to his studio. I did all kinds of work for him and in return he taught me about his art. Then I went to Ohio State. They have a good glass blowing program that really expanded my horizons. A few months ago I moved back to Dayton and set up this studio where I give lessons and teach some classes.”

“Although I’m giving classes, I still feel like a student myself. There’s so much to learn. Last summer I was able to visit Murano, Italy – a place where people have been blowing glass for 700 years. Murano is an island near Venice that people call the Glass Island. The story I heard was that the glass blowers of Venice were sent to the Island of Murano in the 13th century because glass factories sometimes caught fire.”

To learn more about Josh and the classes he’s giving, go tohttps://jlmglass.studio/

Artist of the Week: Heather Jones

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Heather Jones of Heather Jones Studio working in her Front Street Studio. Front Street is in Dayton’s Springfield neighborhood.

As she worked, Heather told me how her current body of work came about. “I wrote a book called Quilt Local. I really like how the book turned out, but by late 2014 when the book was finished, I was burned out on quilting. I had to do something else for a while.”

“I tried painting, but didn’t find it satisfying. So I started doing these sewn works which are hung on the wall like a painting. They’ve been well received, both in the galleries that show my work and in various exhibitions.”

“I start with strips of cloth that I stick on the flannel wall. When I’m happy with how two of the pieces look side by side I iron them and sew them together. Then I place them back on the flannel wall and try to decide which piece of cloth should be added next. When I’m done sewing I put the finished cloth piece onto a structure so it can be hung. As I stretch the cloth some of lines that had looked straight become slightly curved.”

This is a busy month for Heather. She’s in three exhibitions. One is in Cincinnati and has an opening Thursday night from 6 to 9 pm at 1628 LTD (11 Garfield Place). It’s called “Just to be alive – an exhibition of the contemporary female artist.” Twenty artists are included in the show, including Mychaelyn Michalec, Artist.

It was obvious that Heather didn’t mind being photographed as she worked. When I mentioned that she explained that she’s done quite a few workshops and interviews on TV. So I googled her and found a great interview on Youtube on The Quilt Show. The interview referred to Heather as a modern quilter, teacher, author, and Martha Stewart American Made finalist. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KMXUkseqkI

Dayton at Work and Play: Fazl-i-Umar Mosque

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The Fazl-i-Umar Mosque in Dayton’s Miami Chapel neighborhood.

This is one of Dayton’s most historic houses of worship. It is Ohio’s first mosque and the first mosque built in the United States by African American converts to Islam. The property was donated to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in 1949.

Although they are one of the smaller Muslim sects, Ahmadiyya Muslims are well known for their charitable work. When I visited the mosque one day I met a man who wore a baseball cap with the name Humanity First. That’s their agency that does a lot of disaster relief work. The Ahmadiyya Muslims have also built more than 30 hospitals around the world.

Every Wednesday at 6:30 pm the mosque has something it calls “Coffee, Cake & True Islam.” Everyone is welcome, and you can ask questions about the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or about Islam in general. For more information, call them at (937) 901-2408.

Fazl-i-Umar Mosque
637 Randolph St
Dayton, Ohio 45417

 

Dars ul Quran after Fajr Prayer Daily

Wednesdays Cofee and Cake at 06:30 PM (Open for Public)

First Adhan for Jummah prayer:  01:30 pm

Artist of the Week: Tess Little

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK Tess Little working in her Fairborn studio.

Actually, Tess doesn’t have a Fairborn studio. She has two. One is a clay studio in a dairy barn that is over 150 years old. When I visited, two of her students were working there. Tess was working in her other studio, where she makes metal sculptures.

“This piece is called Healing Circle” she told me. “It was one of my earlier bronzes – done around 2005. We were moving it and two of the welds gave way so are repairing it today.”

Tess worked alongside her husband Jim. “Now that Jim is retired he helps me a lot. He does a lot of my set-up work. Jim was in the tool and die business, so that’s something he does really well.”

Tess’s home is filled with art, both hers and that of others. “There would be a lot more to show you, but so much is away right now. I have some large pieces rented in Chicago. Renting sculptures is becoming more popular. A location rents the piece for a year or two. Then you bring it home or take it to another site that wants to rent it. I also have a lot of work in two Dayton galleries, but you can see those pieces on Thursday at a progressive reception.”

The reception of “The Journey: Work by Bing Davis and Tess Little” starts today from 4:30 to 6 pm at the Burnell Roberts gallery at Sinclair and then continues from 6-8 pm at The Contemporary Dayton formerly Dayton Visual Arts Center (118 N Jefferson) . Both receptions are free and open to the public. The exhibitions are part of REACH across Dayton, which Tess Little and Bing Davis founded 27 years ago.

Artist of the Week: Erin Smith-Glenn

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK Erin Smith-Glenn working in the studio where she teaches at Central State University.

“I was once a college student working in this same studio,” she told me. “When I graduated from Central State l went to the University of Cincinnati to get a Masters in Fine Arts. I also studied in Italy, which was a wonderful experience. Now I am back in the same place but the roles are reversed. I’m doing the teaching and this summer I will be taking students to Italy.”

“I’m working in pastel chalk here, which I love. I often do portraits, but lately I have been obsessed with flowers. Maybe it has to do with the weather.”

I met Erin last November when she was in Art Off, the K12 Gallery and TEJAS fundraiser. After meeting her I started to see her work everywhere. You can do the same. You can see her work four times over the next four days.

Tonight Erin has a reception of her show at the Fifth Third Center from 5 to 7 pm. A jazz saxophone player will add some atmosphere to that event.

Tomorrow night, First Friday, she is showing her work at the studio of Mikee Michelle Huber (903 North Keowee).

Saturday you could see one of Erin’s pieces at the Dayton Society of Artists – DSA. She has a piece in their show about historic African American churches of Southwest Ohio.

Sunday Erin will be one of the panelists at the Dayton International Peace Museum “Women Strong Artists Panel” from 3 to 4:30 pm

Dayton at Work and Play: Wholly Grounds

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Visited South Park’s newest business recently –Wholly Grounds and
had a great cup of coffee and some excellent baked goods.

Wholly Grounds bills itself as a coffee house and a tea room, so I asked co-founder Amy about her tea. “I like a cup of tea instead of coffee sometimes myself,” she told me. “We try to have a broad selection of different teas, and if we don’t have something our customers are asking for, we get it.”

I also met Amy’s partner Tony, and told him how much I liked the atmosphere of the new coffee shop. “You should have seen it before,” he said. “The walls were painted bright orange. But painting the walls was easy. The hard part was the floor. I had to remove three levels of flooring before I got to the original wood floor. Repairing that and then refinishing was a chore.”

Tony also told me that he was planning to get a liquor license so he could offer Irish coffee to his patrons.

 

Wholly Grounds
825 Wayne Avenue
Dayton, OH 45410

(937) 349-5807

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Mon – Fri 6am – 6pm

Sat & Sun 7:30am – 5pm 

It is our mission to contribute to a more healthy, balanced, and sustainable life through good food and drink, and the arts.  We will strive to use organic, ethically produced and socially just ingredients, as price and availability allow.

 

Dayton At Work and Play: Wilson Football Factory

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The footballs used in the Super Bowl have the names of the two competing teams, so they couldn’t be made until late yesterday. Like all NFL footballs, they are made in the Wilson plant in Ada, Ohio. A work crew showed up there yesterday during halftime of the game between the Patriots and the Chiefs. They had some pizza and watched the rest of the game. Then when they knew who would be in the Super Bowl they started making footballs.

They worked all night, and early this morning they were replaced by a new crew. Sometime this afternoon they will send 108 footballs to the Los Angeles Rams and another 108 to the New England Patriots.

Wilson Football Factory Tour

217 N. Liberty St., Ada, OH

Hours:Tours must be booked in advance.
Phone:419-634-9901
Admission:Adults $5.

All footballs used in the NFL and NCAA are produced in this little factory in Ada. The tour is very interesting and thorough. You get a souvenir football-shaped piece of pebbled leather, and there is a “gift shop” bin of footballs at the end of the tour if you’d like to take one home. The amount of hard work, done by hand from start to finish, is amazing. Tours are given by actual factory employees and there’s lots of interaction.

 

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Brother John Lemker

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK Brother John Lemker 

with one of his photos currently being exhibited at Gallery St. John (4400 Shakertown Road in Beavercreek).

I have been a fan of Brother Lemker’s work for years. He taught a photography course for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute a few years ago.
I tried to take that course but it was closed out by the time I applied. I am similarly late in telling you about Brother Lemker’s exhibition.
The last time it’s open to the public is Sunday from noon to 3 pm. If the weather isn’t too bad that day you should check it out.
If that doesn’t work just wait a year and he’ll have another show at that gallery.

I asked Brother Lemker to pose with a photo I love called “Reeds and Reflections.” It looks more like an abstract painting than a photograph.

“That photo sort of put me on the map,” he told me. “I submitted it to the Sierra Club and they included it in their calendar. I must have gotten
100 letters about that photo, and a lot of requests to use it in other publications. I took the photo at a small lake where I was camping. That’s what
I used to do when I was younger. I would camp at a spot and wait until the conditions were perfect for a photo. Now that I’m 88 I don’t camp like I did,
but this show includes a lot of nature photography I’ve done right here in Dayton.”

“Five artists, each a Marianist Brother, share this gallery. We each have one exhibition here every year.
So as soon as this show closes I will start work on next year’s exhibition.”

Dayton At Work And Play: The Secret Chamber House of Oddities and Artwork

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Cherish Harrell Brooks loved Foy’s Halloween and Variety Store in Fairborn as she was growing up. Now she has her own spooky store in Fairborn, The Secret Chamber House of Oddities And Artwork.

Cherish and her husband have traveled to horror conventions around the country. They started selling at the annual Horrorhound convention in Columbus for a few years before opening their own shop.

Looking around the store, I saw a dead bat mounted and framed, a sideshow poster about a Human Blockhead, skulls from various animals and many other unusual items. “I want people to walk in here and spend an hour looking at odd things,” Cherish told me.

As we talked, Cherish was working on a piece of art that will be sold in the store. I also saw a lot of art by Tiffany Clark, who was recently named Best Local Artist by Dayton.com

If you’re looking for a shopping experience that is out of the ordinary, try a visit to The Secret Chamber of Oddities and Artwork.

The Secret Chamber House of Oddities and Artwork

17 West Main St.
Fairborn, OH 45424

(937) 312-5885

Business Hours:
Wed – Sat noon – 6pm

 

Dayton at Work and Play: Surjit SIngh Mattu

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Surjit Singh Mattu plays a part in one of our holiday traditions. When our daughters and their families come back to Dayton they must have at least one meal from his restaurant, Amar India (2751 Miamisburg Centerville Road). Amar was a favorite of our daughters when they were young. They’ve eaten in many other Indian restaurants since leaving home, but when they are in Dayton they must return to Amar.

During my last visit to the restaurant I learned a little about Mr. Mattu. He came to Dayton in 1984. He chose Dayton because his brother-in-law was teaching at U.D. and he wanted to be close to family.

 

When he first came to the U.S. from India, Mr. Mattu was an electrician. But he started to work in restaurants on the side and liked it. He opened Amar India in 1991 and now also owns two other Indian restaurants in Dayton – one in Beavercreek and one on Miller Lane, north of downtown.

On the wall at Amer India there is a newspaper article about Mr. Mattu. I love what he said when the newspaper asked what advice he would give to other immigrant business owners.

“You must adapt and embrace the culture you are in now. Make it better by incorporating the culture you brought in. That’s the real America. America is a better and prosperous nation because different cultures created an awesome society.”

Amar India

At Amar India Restaurant, we believe that a buffet is often the best way to get acquainted with a new cuisine, as compared to going for the a la carte option. Our buffet services are available 7 days a week.

2751 Miamisburg Centerville Rd.
Dayton, Ohio 45459

(937) 439-9005

Amar India North Restaurant

7070 Miller Ln
Dayton, OH 45414
Phone: 937-387-6505

Hours:

Monday to Thursday
Lunch: 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Dinner: 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Friday and Saturday
11:30 AM – 10:00 PM
Sunday
12:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Also visit their sister restaurant:

Jeet India

2750 North Fairfield Road
Beavercreek, OH 45431
[Across from Fairfield Commons Mall, next to Chilli’s]
 937-431-8881